Speaking of "Reality"...
...ESPN just won't get a clue. IIRC, their first attempt at "reality" was Beg, Borrow, and Deal, which I don't think lasted that long. Well, as you may have heard or will find out here, ESPN now has a second attempt at "reality" called Dream Job, which is basically a ripoff of The Apprentice...the only differences being the host AND prize. While The Apprentice's host and prize is Donald Trump (Well, working for him anyway), Dream Job's host is Stuart Scott and the prize is getting to be the next SportsCenter anchor. Actually, that *really* is not all that different from The Apprentice's prize. But anyway, it's not Dream Job's similarity to The Apprentice that bugs me...it's ESPN's being so desperate for a new SportsCenter anchor, that they are resorting to an equivalent of MTV's vee-jay contests.
IMHO, one of the catalysts of MTV's overall downfall was the vee-jay contests...two of the vee-jays chosen through those in the late 90's were not bad. Ananda I liked when she hosted the Top Ten/Twentys and Twelve Angry Viewers. And Jesse Camp was cool in that he was practically the only person at MTV at the time who had a great sense of what was good music, at least when it came to old school Hard Rock/Metal. Unfortunately, no wonder he was hardly on there for a year...it was rather amazing that he even won the contest, especially considering that Carson Daly (another catalyst in MTV's downfall, and a MAJOR one at that) was hosting it, I think. Come to think of it, Ananda didn't last too long either...
To get back on-topic...Dream Job is *really* showing that ESPN's path is not all that different from MTV. Just like MTV has strayed very far from their original subject matter and is desperately trying to find ways to somewhat be about music, ESPN is almost the same...the only difference being that ESPN is still focused on sports a little more than MTV is about music. A better comparison is ESPN to The Weather Channel...Weather Channel has been trying to present their subject matter in different lights with mixed results (So far, the only "original program" they still show is Storm Stories). Just like ESPN and their attempts at movies (A Season On the Brink and eventually, the Dale Eanhardt story), dramas (Playmakers), and "reality". It may be a little too late (especially for MTV), but the three aforementioned channels really need to heed the words of the cliche, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it.". TV could start getting better if ESPN would go back to just covering sports and not dramatizing them and/or overhyping certain players/teams; MTV would actually be about music, and the Weather Channel would just go back to being 24 hour nation/worldwide weather coverage.
Another note to ESPN: Having trouble getting new SportsCenter anchors? Here's a suggestion, get rid of Stuart "Boo-yah!" Scott. I'm definitely not in the minority on this...even Mean Gene of the Canes' Storm Squad agrees with me...
"Who is the one person you would most like to see checked into the boards? Stuart Scott"
...ESPN just won't get a clue. IIRC, their first attempt at "reality" was Beg, Borrow, and Deal, which I don't think lasted that long. Well, as you may have heard or will find out here, ESPN now has a second attempt at "reality" called Dream Job, which is basically a ripoff of The Apprentice...the only differences being the host AND prize. While The Apprentice's host and prize is Donald Trump (Well, working for him anyway), Dream Job's host is Stuart Scott and the prize is getting to be the next SportsCenter anchor. Actually, that *really* is not all that different from The Apprentice's prize. But anyway, it's not Dream Job's similarity to The Apprentice that bugs me...it's ESPN's being so desperate for a new SportsCenter anchor, that they are resorting to an equivalent of MTV's vee-jay contests.
IMHO, one of the catalysts of MTV's overall downfall was the vee-jay contests...two of the vee-jays chosen through those in the late 90's were not bad. Ananda I liked when she hosted the Top Ten/Twentys and Twelve Angry Viewers. And Jesse Camp was cool in that he was practically the only person at MTV at the time who had a great sense of what was good music, at least when it came to old school Hard Rock/Metal. Unfortunately, no wonder he was hardly on there for a year...it was rather amazing that he even won the contest, especially considering that Carson Daly (another catalyst in MTV's downfall, and a MAJOR one at that) was hosting it, I think. Come to think of it, Ananda didn't last too long either...
To get back on-topic...Dream Job is *really* showing that ESPN's path is not all that different from MTV. Just like MTV has strayed very far from their original subject matter and is desperately trying to find ways to somewhat be about music, ESPN is almost the same...the only difference being that ESPN is still focused on sports a little more than MTV is about music. A better comparison is ESPN to The Weather Channel...Weather Channel has been trying to present their subject matter in different lights with mixed results (So far, the only "original program" they still show is Storm Stories). Just like ESPN and their attempts at movies (A Season On the Brink and eventually, the Dale Eanhardt story), dramas (Playmakers), and "reality". It may be a little too late (especially for MTV), but the three aforementioned channels really need to heed the words of the cliche, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it.". TV could start getting better if ESPN would go back to just covering sports and not dramatizing them and/or overhyping certain players/teams; MTV would actually be about music, and the Weather Channel would just go back to being 24 hour nation/worldwide weather coverage.
Another note to ESPN: Having trouble getting new SportsCenter anchors? Here's a suggestion, get rid of Stuart "Boo-yah!" Scott. I'm definitely not in the minority on this...even Mean Gene of the Canes' Storm Squad agrees with me...
"Who is the one person you would most like to see checked into the boards? Stuart Scott"
posted by Stormbringer at 3/04/2004 11:59:00 AM
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